Feral And Traveller
by Sekhmet and Susano-o
Summary: Pokémon Platinum. A feral girl and a strange girl (Also Lillie and Green) set out to complete the challenges of the Sinnoh Reigon. Rated T for possible weirdness.
1. Chapter 1

**Sekhmet: Welcome to Feral and Traveller, a Pokémon Platinum fanfic. **

**Susano-o: Involving a small group of girls taking on the Platinum league and Contest league and learning about themselves along the way, not in that way this is a christian fanfic. :P **

**Sekhmet: Despite the inherent sarcasm, Susano-o has forbidden me from writing swear words, so get ready for some awkward substitutions till I can figure out a suitable set. Anyway, yes this is a kids friendly fic, but it'll still probably be rated T because we can still get edgy. **

**Susano-o: Contrary to what she's saying I said no swearing because these are 11 year olds and I doubt 11 year olds in the Pokemon world swear as much as much as someone like Rose. Pokemon was always a lot more clean with its language than Yugioh, which swore a lot. **

**Sekhmet: While I see and agree with your points it's still awkward to work around it. But that's an internal problem you readers don't need to be concerned about. **

**Susano-o: Also it's not that edgey. **

**Sekhmet: Considering we're going to Pokémon Hell at one point and that mid season plot twist we have going, I'd say it could get edgy. Plus there's all the moral quandaries that come inherently with a game like Pokémon, Platinum in particular with its themes of nihilism and life. **

**Susano-o: Yeah, also making Pokemon more like wild animals, and having actual wild animals that 11 year olds will have to face off against. Yep glossing right over the fact that there's no animals ever seen in Pokemon by adding real animals in as well. **

**Sekhmet: I always figured there was a mass breeding farm for meat off map in every game, but I suppose that's too optimistic. Also, Lillie and Green are here as well as our two OCs, Frederica and Akari. **

**Susano-o: Green is the female trainer from Red to Green, but we added a few elements from the manga counterparts of a few of the female trainers to flesh out her character as we didn't want to use the team rocket spy version. **

**Sekhmet: Lillie is Lillie. Cute but psychologically damaged and terrified of Pokémon. Akari is...weird. All I can really say is that she has a shifting personality that doesn't really make sense until much later in the story. I swear it's a good payoff. **

**Susano-o: Frederica is a feral child, daughter of rich parents who wandered off into the woods and got lost, raised by Mightyena till she was rescued and now is taking on Pokemon Leagues with her own 'Pack' why also reintegrating with society. **

**Sekhmet: Along the way, the rest of her friends are going to retract her to be human, while battling the typical villain team which, lets be honest, are more of an inconvenient hinderance than an actual threat. At least, as far as we've gotten so far. In truth, Team Galactic is a HUGE threat, What with the ripping apart time and space.**

**Susano-o: So with that out of the way, here's chapter 1 of Feral and the Traveller. **

**Susano-o: Frederica is funny. **

**Sekhmet: Akari is the voice of reason and the straight man in this chapter. **

**Susano-o: Well when your other character is a girl with little interaction with the outside world she's gonna have to be.**

**Sekhmet: This is mostly establishing characters, like any first chapter. **

**Susano-o: Yep, so let's get to it.**

-Pokemon We Will Be Heroes-

(On a road, far from home,

you don't have to feel alone.)

The show opens with a zoom in on Frederica and Akari and their pokemon, a Combusken and Turtwig, before spinning around them in a sweeping shot to show the rolling hills and mountains of the Sinnoh region.

(Brave and strong, together we will be.

It's our destiny!)

The camera then spins back to show Lillie and Green, with Cosmoen and Squirtle beside them, joining the two looking over the hills. The four smiled before running down the hill together.

(We will be heroes,

We can change the world if we try!)

The camera quickly cut around to Frederica, Akari, and Green battling random trainers and then Lillie in her contest clothes standing in the center of the contest area with a dazzling light show going off behind her.

(I go where you go,

Forever friends, you and I!)

The next cut is the four sitting around a campfire as Frederica playfully tackles Green while Akari and Lillie laugh beside them.

(We will be heroes!

Battle Dimension

Pokémon!)

The four smile as each other the title card appears above them.

Chapter 1: Transposition

Akari woke up to Meowth clawing at her hair. She shooed him away and got up, rubbing her eyes. Her golden eyes gave her a haunting look as she looked over herself in the mirror, running her hand through her long golden hair.

She colored her lips cherry red and got her purse and hat. She exited her room, and was immediately greeted by her mother.

"It's already day here, Sinnoh is so strange, isn't it? It's so different from Kanto. We're really so far away, aren't we Akari?" She asked.

"Yeah mom." Akari replied.

"So are you ready to meet some new Pokémon?" She asked.

"Sure. I was just heading out. I'm gonna catch some more before I head to Oreburgh City tomorrow." Akari said.

"Oh that's great to hear! I'm sure the Pokémon here must be friendly, right?" Mom asked. "Either way, get exploring! See the region! And take Jonathan with you. You got him yesterday, remember?"

Akari nodded, and grabbed the poke ball containing a Turtwig and five unoccupied balls from the countertop.

….

As Akari chased a Pokémon she couldn't identify through dense undergrowth, a net suddenly snapped up, catching her a few feet in the air.

As she looked around the mud nearby suddenly shifted and a young girl emerged from where she had been laying. She was dressed in what basically amounted to a grass skirt covering some shorts and a tight sports bra covered in leaves, her brown hair was pinned back into a single big spiky ponytail. The rest of her features were covered with mud so all that could be seen was her emerald green eyes.

"So are you the one who set this trap? Cause I'm not a prey animal." Akari said.

The girl snarled as she grabbed a spear hidden in the mud and poked Akari.

"Ok, can you not?" Akari said annoyed.

"You not boar," The muddy girl hissed back.

"Clearly." Akari deadpanned.

The girl growled. "You scare away food," She said annoyed. "Tramp through forest like Tauros."

"Well I didn't know it wasn't a Pokémon. These woods are dark." Akari said.

Hissing the girl crawled up a nearby tree and started undoing the knot to the net trap, dropping Akari onto the ground as it let go.

"What possesses a person to live like this extensively?" Akari wondered out loud.

The other girl smirked. "You live like Poochyena pup," She retorted. "Need others to help, can not live on own."

"Well most humans are social creatures, we kind of have to." Akari said. "Doesn't look like instinct gave you the memo though."

"Have own pack," The girl snarled as she pulled a harness of pokeballs off from her thigh. "Much stronger than yours."

"Probably. I only got Jonathan yesterday." Akari admitted.

"What pokemon is that?" The girl asked scrambling down the tree and digging around in the underbrush to uncover a ratty backpack, from there she pulled out a dented and scratched Hoenn pokedex.

"Jonathan's a Turtwig." Akari said, showing her Turtwig's entry on her Sinnoh pokedex.

The girl looked confused as she read the dex. "How it learn that name?" She asked.

"You don't nickname your Pokémon?" Akari asked.

"They have their own names," She responded confused. "Given at birth like you and me."

"So they named themselves." Akari asked.

"No parents named them," She said rolling her eyes. "They are named when hatched, like human parents do."

"So you can communicate with them?" Akari asked. A nod was her response. "That's cool."

"Thank you," The girl said before quickly turning her head and sniffing. "Food," She smirked before bolting back to the mud and covering herself. "Go away," She hissed. "You scare food."

"Right…" Akari said, and started walking in a random direction. She got it, if the feral girl didn't want her here, then whatever. She still hadn't found a Pokémon yet, so she had plenty to do.

Still, she couldn't help but wonder…

….

Frederica smirked as she started carving the boar she had caught into strips for herself and her pokemon. "Tomorrow we head to Oreburgh," She said in poke-speak to her Combusken as she let the meat sizzle on an open flame.

"Yes, it will be quite different compared to the Hoenn league," Her pokemon responded as he watched the meat, knowing the biggest piece in the middle was for him and not wanting Aron, who was watching is as well, to steal it. Ralts had settled herself down in Frederica's lap while Plusle and Minun chased each other around the campsite smiling and laughing.

"Come on!" Plusle yelled trying to scramble up a nearby tree with her partner on her tail. "You're being a slowpoke!"

"You're a slowpoke!" Minum yelled back as he jumped around the tree to tackle his partner off the tree and into the underbrush. "Got you!" He laughed.

Plusle shrieked with laughter as the two rolled around in the bushes.

Ralts did not partake in her packmates games, opting to curl up in Frederica's lap and doze off, confident she would be safe.

"You won't get it," Combusken glared as Aron slowly started shimmying his way towards the fire.

"Whatever do you mean," Aron asked innocently.

"You don't even eat food," Combusken glared harder. "You eat iron."

"Meat has iron in it," Aron responded.

Combusken did respond, he instead grabbed his meat strip; Aron made a grab for it, and ended up tripping and falling back first over the fire instead.

Combusken laughed as he watched Aron try and flip himself over like a turtle. Ralts, seeing this was going nowhere fast, used her confusion attack to send Aron flying into Combusken's head.

"Enough you two," She said settling back into Frederica's lap and nibbling on her berry dinner.

Combusken grabbed his dinner before Aron could and settled back down to eat, Aron snorted as he went back to the iron ore he had abandoned earlier.

Minun and Plusle finally untangled themselves from the underbrush and ran over to the pile of berries sitting out for them diving into the pile they started chomping down on whichever berry caught their interest, all the while nuzzling up against each other.


	2. Chapter 2

**Susano-o: Time to catch'em all! **

**Sekhmet: Akari would die for Lillie. And break game Lusamine's back for one corn chip. But she doesn't know about that yet so right now she'd just die for Lillie. **

**Susano-o: ….Ok then….moving on. **

**Sekhmet: Yes moving on. **

**Susano-o: Frederica is just a crazy girl who she keeps running into, and what's to toughen Lillie up. **

**Sekhmet: And Akari doesn't approve. But for the sake of peace she goes with it.**

**Susano-o: And because she also needs to toughen up, bears are dangerous, people. **

**Sekhmet: They May look look like dumb dogs but they have a mean right hook. **

**Susano-o: Yes, so let's go.**

Frederica awoke with a start, she was cold, this region was much colder than Hoenn and the summer months were starting to wind down, meaning she'd have to prepare for an actual winter. Snarling she grabbed her backpack and dug out the clothes she has made for the fall weather, something she wasn't expecting to use for another few months. The tanned leather clothes felt odd as she was so used to wearing nothing more than her normal grass clothes, but she figured that like wearing a bra and underwear she'd get use to them soon enough. Packing up her things Frederica set out for Jubilife city, the first stop on her journey.

…

Akari got up earlier than usual, the cold draft in her room had woken her. Figuring that now was as good a time as any to head out for the day, she packed her purse, put on some red fall clothing, grabbed her newly acquired Pokémon, and set out for Jubilife City, a stop on her way to Oreburgh.

…

The two met at the edge of the city.

"Oh hey, you're that girl from yesterday." Akari said. "Hello again, I'm Akari."

"Yes, Frederica," Frederica said nodding as she looked over the city seemingly looking for something, but from the growling it was obvious she was having difficulty finding it.

"What are you looking for?" Akari asked.

"Need…Poketch," Frederica hissed the words not sounding right to her tongue. "Watch make journey easier...PokeNav not work here," She explained showing Akari her PokeNav with a giant ERROR message across the screen.

"So you're from Hoenn. Figures, the PokeNavs don't have maps of Sinnoh yet." Akari said, and pulled out a small but thick gazette from her bag. "Well according to the city map, the company that makes them has a building on the west side of the city. I've never been here either, so we can find it together."

"Alright," Frederica said following Araki down the street. Jubilife was a small but energetic city. It wasn't too hard to find the building, but the fact that it was clustered behind some other buildings made it more annoying than it needed to be.

"Wait," Frederica said grabbing Araki's wrist as the two got closer to the building.

"What?" Akari asked.

Frederica points to the two oddly dressed people, they were dressed in the spacesuit-looking outfits and had turquoise hair that was cut quite short and rounded, in front of the Poketch Company building who were harassing another girl.

"Oh, that won't do." Akari said, and approached the scene.

"Who are they?"

"I dunno." Akari said, and as she got to them, put on a sarcastic and overeager voice, and slamming her hand against the building between one of the men and the girl, separating them. "Heeey guys! And what's up with you picking on this nice lady?" She said with a cheesy grin.

"She is carrying something that could be of value to our goal," The female grunt said vaguely. "We simply wish for her to come back with us to Eterna City to discuss working with our lead inventor."

"Uh huh. Well you two seem to be hard of sight, she clearly doesn't want to go." Akari said, and have the girl an eye gesture that said, "Get outta here before this gets drastic." Seeming to get it, the girl got out from between them and just out of their reach.

"Unfortunately that will not be happening," The male grunt said taking a step forward. "We're going to have to insist she comes with us," He said taking out a pokeball. "So," He said releasing his Stunky. "Please step aside."

"Stunky!" The little skunk pokemon growled as it reared back at Akari.

"If you're not with the mafia or the eco terrorists, you pose no threat." Akari said, pulling out two pokeballs, releasing Jonathan the Turtwig and Kars the Starly.

"No," Frederica said pulling back on Akari's shoulder slightly. "You will not win."

"Oh please, their only Pokémon is a Stunky." Akari said. "Maybe they also have a Zubat, who knows."

"No, Stunky is very strong," Frederica explained. "Would beat your Turtwig quick."

"Well if you think your Pokémon are so much better than mine, go ahead. But if that Stunky is as strong as you say it is, you'll be beat too." Akari huffed. She called her Pokémon back to her side with a small gesture.

Frederica snarled. "Pup," She growled taking Akari's place. "Aron, hunt!" She yelled throwing out his pokeball. The tiny metal quadruped landed in front of her with a small metallic roar. "Aron!"

"Stunky use Acid Spray!" The grunt ordered. The tiny skunk growled as it opened its mouth and released a small wave of purple acid at Aron. Who took the attack like it was nothing.

"Dig!" Frederic ordered, Aron quickly got to work digging it's way through the street into the underground.

The grunt looked annoyed at this move. "Stunky use Focus Energy, be ready when it comes up to hit it hard," He said.

"Stunky!" His pokemon roared as it was covered in a light blue aura.

Frederica got down close to the ground and put her hand on the concrete. "Hit it from behind," She mumbled in poke-speak.

The ground behind Stunky suddenly exploded as Aron came out in a full charge, slamming into Stunky with all its might and sending the pokemon flying across the field. "Now finish this with Metal Claw!" Frederica yelled.

"Aron!" Aron yelled as his single claw glowed bright white before he slashed down Stunky's side, knocking it out cold.

"Stunky!" The grunt said in shock as his pokemon crashed to the ground unconscious.

"You fool," His partner said scowling. "You underestimated her," She said before turning to Akari and sending out her Glameow, who landed on the battlefield like it owned it as it seemed to smirk at Akari. "But I won't."

"Kars." Akari said, and Kars fluttered off Akari's head. "Wing Attack."

"Fake Out!" The grunt commanded.

Kars's wings glowed white as it went to smack Glameow upside the head, but it was stopped by a shockwave of air sending it back. Kars went to circle back around.

"Quick Attack." Akari said. Kars shot forward in a streak of light and struck at Glameow's torso with its feet, the Starly equivalent of throat punching it.

"Scratch!" The grunt commanded. Glameow managed to catch Kars's wing, leaving a white streak in the wake of the attack. Kars tumbled to the ground, but got right back up and started flying again.

"Wing Attack." Akari said.

"When it comes around, use Scratch again!" The grunt commanded. The two Pokémon met in a clash of white, but in the end, Kars got there first, clotheslining Glameow with its wing. Glameow toppled to the ground, tried to get up, but couldn't. Kars flew back to his trainer with a triumphant smirk. Akari pet his back, as if soothing his wounds with just her touch.

"And that takes care of that." Akari said. She quickly turned to the girl, who Akari was instantly enamored with. She was practically dressed up for a white wedding, as she was head to toe in poofy white clothing. She had platinum blond hair and the biggest most fearful green eyes on her face. "Are you alright ma'am?" She asked.

"Yes, I'm alright." She stammered, clutching her bag.

"You safe now," Frederica said as the two Grunts left them in disgrace. Akari returned her Pokémon to their balls.

"We should head to the Pokémon Center. We'll be safe there." Akari suggested.

Frederica nodded in agreement. "Pokemon centers safe."

The girl nodded, and when the grunts were out of their sights, the three made their way across the street to the Pokémon center.

Akari got Kars healed up, and the three sat at a nearby table, or rather the new girl and Akari did, Frederica was more inclined to perch on the chair rather than sit in it directly.

"So who are you anyway?" Akari asked the girl.

"My name's Lillie. I'm a Coordinator." She replied.

"Like one of those trainers who puts on shows with the help of their Pokémon?" Akari asked.

"Yeah." Lillie replied.

"That's cool. I assume your star Pokémon is in the bag?" Akari asked, to which Lillie got defensive.

"No, just my stuff is in here." She said.

"No," Frederica growled. "There is pokemon in there."

"No, just my stuff." Lillie insisted.

"You lie," Frederica growled lower as she got in Lillie's face.

"Hey hey, leave her alone." Akari said, waving at Frederica to take her attention off Lillie. "If she doesn't want to show us her star Pokémon, so be it."

"Doesn't like it in there," Frederica said. "Repels in bag too, make it nervous."

"Well those weirdos wanted something to do with that Pokémon, so of course it would feel uneasy. But it's alright, they're gone now, they won't hurt you." Akari said to the bag.

"Pew..." The Pokemon said softly from the bag.

"Huh. Never heard that Pokémon cry before." Akari said. "Well a Coordinator's gotta keep their secrets, right?"

"Let it out already," Frederica growled.

"Frederica, stop. She can let it out later if she wants. I don't know what Pokémon that is, but it must be really important to not be seen in public." Akari said. "It's probably some legendary from another region."

Frederica snarled but complied, settling back in her chair to drink her coffee. The three sat in silence, drinking their beverages for a long time in awkward silence.

"So what brought you to Sinnoh? Well, besides the obvious." Akari asked. Lillie seemed to stiffen.

"I just came here for the contests." Lillie said.

"No gym battles for you then?" Akari asked.

"Goodness no. I'm not a huge fan of battles to be honest." Lillie said.

"Contests?" Frederica asked.

"Yeah. Instead of using Pokémon for battling, some people use their moves to make grand displays to impress judges." Akari explained. "Even though I'm challenging the league, I've been thinking about trying out the Contests too."

"They're really fun. I just have one problem…" Lillie said, looking down.

"What?" Akari asked.

"I'm kinda afraid of Pokémon." Lillie murmured.

"Well you've got the one in the bag. If you can be around one, you can be around them all." Akari said with confidence.

"No, he's different. Any other Pokémon is scary." Lillie insisted.

"Pokemon friendlier than humans," Frederica snarked rolling her eyes.

"Maybe sometimes." Akari half agreed. "But the point is, if your fear isn't total, it can be worked on. I can understand people being afraid of some of the big scary ones, but Pokémon like Pikachu or Snorunt? They're pretty tame as far as they come."

Frederica nodded and let out her Plusle and Minun and spoke to them for a few seconds. "See?" She said gesturing to them. Lillie shyed away from them. "Talk," Frederica insisted.

Lillie looked petrified, but mustered what she could. "H-hello…"

"Min!" Minum said happily waving his paw.

"Plus!" Plusle added waving her opposite paw.

Lillie made an "eep" sound as she retreated into her chair.

"Hey, it's alright. Plusle and Minun are literally helping Pokémon. They're not gonna hurt you." Akari tried to reassure her, but Lillie was trembling like she had hypothermia, and couldn't say a word.

Frederica rolled her eyes and called her pokemon back. "Try this," She said letting Ralts out. Lillie seemed to relax a bit more, if only because somewhere in her primal brain she reasoned that if its eyes were covered it couldn't see her, no matter how wrong that logic might be. She still kept to her chair though.

"Ralts," Ralts said holding out her small hand. Lillie slowly reached out a trembling hand to touch it, but pulled out at the last second. Ralts responded with a tilted head.

"Ok, how about this?" Akari said, and pulled out Jonathan. "Starter Pokémon are bred to be calm and easy to handle. And Jonathan would never hurt anyone!"

Jonathan looked at Lillie inquisitively, and she slowly reached her hand out to touch him. At the last second, Jonathan rubbed his head into her hand, forcibly closing the gap. Lillie flinched away after a second.

"It's not so bad…" Lillie murmured.

"Pokemon friendly," Frederica said as Ralts crawled into her lap and then onto the table to shuffle over to Lillie. This time trying to pick up Lillie's hand with her tiny ones. Lillie tried really hard not to flinch on instinct.

"Yeah." Akari said. "Come on, touch the Ralts. They won't bite."

Lillie turned back to Ralts and let her take her hand.

"Ralts," Ralts said as she put Lillie's hand on her horn, allowing her to feel her positive emotions.

"Feelings Pokémon indeed." Akari said.

Frederica nodded. "What is wrong with her?" She asked Ralts in poke-speak.

"She had a very bad experience with a pokemon," Ralts explained.

"_I'll ask her about her fear later."_ Akari thought. "_I have never met one who was afraid of Pokémon, and I feel a need to remedy it." _

"Ok," Frederica nodded before looking at the two. "We go, need Poketch, then gym," She said standing up and leaving. Akari followed, and so did Lillie. Getting Poketches turned out to be remarkably easy for them, Frederica was able to track down the hidden coupon clowns fairly quickly, and after Akari aced their questions, the three girls received their poketches.

"Fancy things these are." Akari said, quickly scrolling through the given apps.

Frederica snarled as she tried to decipher the manual.

"What are you looking for?" Akari asked.

"Map, over complicated thing," Frederica growled as she squinted her eyes at the pamphlet in front of her.

"I don't think it comes with one." Lillie said. "I don't see it anywhere in my instructions booklet."

"What?!" Frederica snapped throwing the manuel down.

"It's fine, cause I got a paper map!" Akari said, pulling out her gazette and opening it. "To get to Oreburgh City, we want to take Route 203."

Frederica nodded, but was still annoyed. "Ok."

"If anyone needs to stop anywhere in the city, we should do it now. According to the map, we've gotta pass through tall grass and a cave to get there." Akari mentioned.

"I've got my Repels, I'll be alright." Lillie said.

Frederica shook her head. "Why?" She growled. "You need Pokemon."

"She's got a point. You should at least have one other Pokémon if your other can't fight." Akari said.

"I'm not sure." Lillie said.

"It won't be so bad. I can catch one for you." Akari offered.

"You'd do that?" Lillie asked.

"Yeah sure." Akari said, and headed off towards the grass.

"Catch Vulpix" Frederica suggested looking through her dex. "Calm, easy to train."

"I'm not sure if they're around these parts." Akari said, stepping into the grass. Nothing happened yet, so she started running through it, trying to flush a Pokémon out.

Frederica smirked. "Matter of knowing," She said before bolting into the woods at full speed. Lillie stood outside the grass while Akari continued to run around, occasionally having Jonathan fight a Pokémon. When Frederica didn't come back for a while, the two went to the woods to look for her.

….

Frederica smirked as she flew up a nearby tree in a full speed climb, poor trainers didn't seem to understand that just because a pokemon was more likely to be found in a specific route didn't mean it couldn't be found in other places, it was all a matter of tracking down a pokemon trail and seeing where the rabbit hole went. Stalking through the woods she was able to find one of the trails and flattened herself down against a branch, to see what came through.

"_Bidoof, Kricketot, Wurmple,"_ She thought counting the kinds of pokemon she had seen go through in the last hour. "_Perfect, pacifistic pokemon means this isn't one types trail, so if I go this way," _She thought crawling her way across the treetops towards were the other pokemon had gone. "_I'll find one of these," _She smirked widely as the tree cover opened slightly to reveal a large clearing with many different pokemon gathered together around a much larger tree. "_Hello hovel," _She thought slithering her way across the trees. Pokemon hovels were resting places for pokemon of all types, mostly used for sleeping or breaks during journeys, and today a lone Vulpix was resting near the base of the tree.

"_Now for the drop and mark," _She thought reaching into her bag and grabbing a small clay ball, once she was over the Vulpix, she released it. The small ball hit the red fox on the back, breaking apart and covering it in silver dust, the pokemon barely stirred. Pleased with her work, Frederica left to meet back with her group.

….

"I'm sure she's nearby. Any minute now she's probably gonna yell at us for unknowingly scaring off her mark or something." Akari said, stepping over a fallen tree.

"Are you sure? We've been looking for twenty minutes and she's not here. I'm not sure how to get back to the main path either." Lillie said, jumping slightly at a Wurmple call.

"I got it, don't worry." Akari said. Suddenly the call stopped and Frederica's head appeared upside-down in front of them. Akari jumped and swore loudly while Lillie almost fainted. Though it couldn't be seen, Akari's hair bleached white, and then turned a dark grey before turning back to gold.

"Shhh," Frederica said putting a finger on Akari's finger. "You too loud." Akari grumbled about how she had been partially right when talking to Lillie. "Vulpix found, Aron trailing, need to move now before lose both," Frederica insisted. Akari nodded, and the three started to follow her. The three crawled towards the clearing, but by the time they got there, the Vulpix was gone.

"Where is it?" Akari asked.

"This way," Frederica said pointing to the edge of the forest. "Heading back, finished scouting."

"Right, you're good with these survival type things." Akari said, mostly to herself, and the three kept crawling.

"Pack teach many things," Frederica said as she scaled a tree to get a better view. Akari stayed on the ground with Lillie, the girl looked pretty scared. "There," she said pointing to the small red bobbing tail in the tall grass.

"Cool. I'll go sneak up on it." Akari said, and started a slow crawl towards the Vulpix. When she was very close, she picked out a pokeballs and released Caesar, her Shinx. Unfortunately, the sound of the pokeball alerted the Vulpix, and it spun around and used Roar, sending both Caesar and Akari flying backwards.

Frederica snarled and let out a war cry as she jumped on top of the Vulpix, quickly restraining it. "You too loud!" She yelled at Akari as she held her hand out towards Lillie. "Pokeball now!" She ordered.

Lillie quickly rummaged around in her bag for a pokeball, produced a Luxury Ball, and tossed it to Frederica, who used it to catch the Vulpix. "There," She said throwing the ball back. "Now yours, not traded," She explained.

"Oh yeah, kinda forgot about the rapid growth rule." Akari said.

Lillie gingerly held the Luxury Ball in her hands, rolling it back and forth a bit. "What now?" She asked.

"Now we train. I'd hazard a guess to say that neither of us are ready to take the first gym. Seeing as how you're a Coordinator though, you don't really need to train for battles per say." Akari said. "But first, let's get back on the main path. I'm getting a little uneasy about getting lost."

Frederica snorted. "Not possible," She said, shaking her head.

"Well maybe not for you, you're hardened to all of this. But I don't have as good skills in survival. We went this way, right?" Akari asked, pointing to the tree line.

"I think so." Lillie said, nodding. She put the Luxury Ball in her bag.

Frederica snorted even louded. "Not skills, resources," She explained slowly. "You have flying type," She said pointing at Akari. "You have pokemon from here," She said pointing at Lillie.

"Fair enough. But the way back to the path is that way, right?" Akari asked.

Frederica groaned. "Baby pups," She mumbled turning around. "This way shorter," She said leading them into some extremely thick underbrush. By mid afternoon, the three were back on the Route. Lillie was understandably a mess, all white wasn't a great color for rummaging around in the dirt. Akari wasn't much better off, her red tank top, shorts and knee high socks were caked with dirt. "Need better clothes," Frederica noted. "Not good for region."

"Oh these aren't so bad." Akari said, dusting herself off. "Most people don't go off the beaten path is all."

"This is the only outfit I have." Lillie said, a hint of solemnity in her voice.

"You not prepared then," Frederica said bluntly scanning her over. "You have food, water, shelter?" She asked.

"I've got some basic camping gear in my bag." Akari said, lifting it a bit.

"No…" Lillie said, a bit ashamed of herself.

Frederica snarled in response ignoring Akari and focusing on Lillie. "You have money?" She asked.

"Yep." Akari said.

"Yeah." Lillie said.

Frederica nodded. "We get you supplies," She said grabbing her hand and dragging her to Oreburg. "Pokemon world cruel, unprepared you will be eaten alive."

"_Oh, it can't be that bad." _Akari thought as she followed the two down the path.


	3. Chapter 3

**Susano-o: I love Frederica learning to act human.**

**Sekhmet: It's a taxing process but well worth it. **

**Susano-o: Poor Lilie, the vaguely conservative American girl that has to learn vaguely Japanese traditions. **

**Sekhmet: Yeah, I'm surprised there wasn't a hot springs area in Sinnoh, since theres a huge fucking mountain in the region. **

**Susano-o: Yeah you think in that the Hotel Grand Lake would have one being so close to the mountain and being a luxury resort. **

**Sekhmet: That's where they tend to be anyway. Let's go!**

Chapter 3: Human 101

The group entered the cave, fought off some Pokémon, and got to Oreburgh just as the sun was going down.

Frederica sneered. "Took too long," She grumbled.

"Well we kinda asked for it when those six Geodude took turns trying to roll us flat." Akari said. Frederica just snorted in response.

"Where's the Pokémon Center?" Lillie asked.

"Should be right around the corner." Akari said, looking at her gazette. Indeed it was right around the corner.

"We heal then food," Frederica concluded.

"Woah woah. If you're thinking what I'm thinking then you've gotta have a bath." Akari said.

Frederica looked at her confused at what Akari thought she was implying. "What?" She asked.

"I'm not saying we go anywhere fancy, but most places don't like customers coming in covered in dry clay." Akari said.

Frederica still looked confused. "What?" She asked again.

"It's just not a thing that people in groups do. People aren't gonna let you in a restaurant if you don't get cleaned up." Akari said, starting to realize just how little Frederica interacted with other humans. "Come on, we'll get you cleaned up."

Akari and Lillie led Frederica back to the Pokémon Center, got their Pokémon healed, rented a room and explained in more detail. "See, people are less likely to interact with people if they're covered in dirt, especially in a city setting. Society is just like that sometimes. Additionally, many restaurants have rules saying that you have to have a certain level of cleanliness to enter. It's become so ingrained into human society that these rules aren't often written down, just assumed to be the case."

Frederica blinked. "What is restaurant?"

"You...weren't implying that we go out to eat?" Akari asked.

"Eat out?" Frederica asked confused. "Meant cook."

"Oh. Well look at the fool I've made of myself." Akari said, hanging her head. Lillie pat her back in a vague attempt to comfort her.

"What is eat out?" Frederica asked.

"Its when you pay someone to make food for you." Lillie explained. "Usually you go to a special place called a restaurant to do it."

Frederica blinked slowly. "Why pay for food?" She asked. "Money for supplies, not food."

"In some cases it can be cheaper than getting the supplies themselves. Most of the time though, it's because someone doesn't feel like cooking." Lillie explained.

Frederica's eyes went wide as it clicked to her. "Oh…" She said nodding.

"Yeah." Akari agreed.

"Let's go then," Frederica agreed turning to leave their rented room.

"Wait, you still have to bathe!" Akari said.

Frederica looked down at herself nodded. "Usually, bathe for gyms," she explained before again turning to leave.

"No, she means in the bathroom." Lillie said, gesturing to the adjacent room.

Frederica looked in the bathroom and raised an eyebrow at the fixtures. "River is fine," She insisted.

"Trust me, it's better in the bath." Akari said. "They got fancy little soaps and everything."

"Soap?" Frederica asked tilting her head quizcally.

"Yeah, to help get the dirt off." Akari said.

Frederica still looked confused, but shrugged and started undressing herself.

"Noooo! You have to do that in the bathroom!" Lillie said, shielding her eyes and blushing madly. Akari has just shut her eyes.

Frederica ignored her and finished before walking into the bathroom, then stood there not sure what was supposed to happen next.

Seeming to sense the confusion, Akari leaned into door view, wanting her to learn how to do it on her own first. "You gotta turn on the faucet in the tub."

Frederica didn't know what a tub was, but she did know what a faucet was, so seeing the faucet on the sink she turned it on. "Ok?" She asked Akari.

"No, the other one. The one over the big basin." Akari replied.

Frederica saw the other one and turned it on, letting the water run. "Ok," She said.

"Did you put the plug in?" Akari asked. "It's the little block on a chain. Don't let it get too full, it'll spill and make a mess."

Frederica put the plug in and then once the water filled up she got in, shocked at the fact this much warm water was readily available without a hot spring.

"Usually you can just soak in it for a while, but you're gonna want to use soap to get the dirt off. Should be in a few little bottles nearby." Akari said.

Seeing the little bottles Frederica opened them all and started pouring them into the water and on herself.

"You only want to use a little. Usually you'd have them all to yourself, but there are multiple people here so we gotta ration it." Akari said, giving up and just going in, much to Lillie's protests. She made an internal note to ask for some extra bottles from the front desk. Between the two, Frederica managed to get clean, and learned the bliss of a hot bath.

….

Frederica looked at herself in the mirror, it was odd to bathe like that, and she knew the soap scents were gonna make it annoying to sneak through the forest, but as a treat every once in a while she could understand why people do it. Walking back out to the bathroom she dropped the fluffy thing that Akari had wrapped around her that she called towel on the floor so she could get dressed again.

Each of the girls took their turn in the bath, and they were ready to go after made sure their pokemon had been fed as well. They decided on a nice steakhouse on the north side of town and got the specialty dish: sirloin with mashed potatoes and green beans.

Frederica grabbed the steak and started chowing down without a care, no utensils needed.

"No, wait you gotta use the fork and knife!" Akari said, haphazardly trying to stop her. "That's how it's done, especially in good places like this!"

Frederica looked at her confused. "I eat normally," She insisted.

"No, this is not normal among humans. You gotta use the fork and knife, like this." Akari said, cutting a piece of steak in demonstration. "It's considered polite and appropriate for the setting."

Frederica looked at the utensils with confusion, but she complied and clumsily started eating the normal way. The rest of the meal went fine, and before they knew it it was time to sleep. Frederica tired to make her way out of the city but was stopped by her companions.

"We have a room at the Pokémon Center remember?" Lillie said.

Frederica nodded. "You do," She said.

"And so do you." Akari said. "I mean, those beds are really comfy. You're not gonna pass up a night on one of those, are you?"

"Bed?" Frederica asked confused.

"Yeah a bed. It's a fluffy pad with blankets. It's kinda like a shelf for your body." Akari said.

Frederica just agreed knowing it would be easier to go with the flow than argue.

True to Akari's word, the beds in the room were very comfortable. They felt like you'd slept in them for years despite the fact that it's your first time visiting. Akari passed out near immediately, and Lillie fell asleep soon after, and Frederica, after stripping naked again, curled up on top of the bed and was asleep soon after.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sekhmet: To paraphrase an Australian puppet: First Badge. FUCK YOU HEMMINGWAY!**

**Susano-o: Umm what? **

**Sekhmet: Watch some Randy Feltface. He's hilarious. First draft is always shit my ass. **

**Susano-o: OK then….**

**Sekhmet: He's funny. Let's go. **

Chapter 4: First Badge

Akari was having the dream again. She was falling slowly out of the sky. There wasn't any urgency to her dream. She was naked. There were a bunch of nonsensical items falling with her. Drawstring bags, a child she didn't know, and a bathrobe were a few of the objects that she saw. Weird background noises, like a sound that had been cut up and then randomly spliced back together filled her ears. It was unbearable to listen to. It got louder and louder until she couldn't bear it and she wanted to rip her own ears off-

And as it was about to overwhelm her, she jolted awake. She was breathing heavily, and glanced around the room. Frederica was already gone, and Lillie was still asleep. She worried for a second, but realized that of course Frederica was gone, she was a survivalist.

Akari laid back on the bed and sighed. She was relieved that she was just dreaming. She looked out the window. Day had already broken and sunlight streamed through the window. She got out of her bed and started getting ready for the day.

Soon after she got dressed, Lillie woke up and also started getting ready for the day.

"So why become a Coordinator here?" Akari asked.

"Huh?" Lillie asked.

"I mean, Hoenn has a lot more Contest opportunities." Akari explained.

"Sinnoh just seemed more...appealing." Lillie said. Before Akari could question her further, Frederica returned to the room, carrying a dead deer across her back.

"Food!" She said happily ignoring the looks she was receiving. "We cook!" Lillie was terrified at the dead animal.

"Dude, they have free continental breakfast here!" Akari said. "Have you never had a waffle? They're delicious!"

"Better," She said nodding at her kill as she walked back outside to set up a fire pit, in front of the pokemon center.

"Not out there!" Nurse Joy said, chasing after her. Lillie was just frozen in shock.

…

Frederica growled, her new companions were incredibly sheltered and at this rate they wouldn't survive past the first gym. As cute as people make pokemon look, at their core they are still animals, and she had seen more than one person get attacked by a swarm of wild Beautifly and die thinking they wouldn't attack them, and that's not counting the regular dangers out there, she pitted the first time they encountered a grizzly bear.

"I'm gonna have to show them how to survive," She groaned to her pokemon as they all sat around the fire, she had been forced to take her cooking out of the city limits by the police. "What annoying people," She muttered.

"Yeah they need to learn how to survive," Aron said.

"Don't be so mean to them," Ralts pouted. "They don't have the advantage of being born in the wild."

"Well they have to learn sometime," Combusken said crossing his arms.

"Yeah!" Plusle said happily. "We can teach them!"

"We'll be the best teachers ever!" Minum said rubbing up against Plusle.

Frederica nodded as she started tanning the hide for more clothing.

Akari soon showed up, along with Lillie, who was more reluctant to be near a dead animal. "Look, I'm sorry about the people, but corpses aren't well received in the eyes of structured society."

Frederica rolled her eyes. "Train," She said grabbing her pokeballs. Akari got here out too and prepared for a fight.

"Go Combusken!" Frederica yelled throwing out her pokemon.

"Combusken!" He yelled hopping around on his feet. Akari went through her choices, and picked Caesar for the challenge. "Shinx Shinx!" He mewed, hooping back and forth.

"Combusken Double Kick!" Frederica ordered.

"Dodge and Tackle!" Akari said.

Combusken ran forward at full speed to kick the smaller pokemon, but Caesar slipped under the first kick and tried to ram into Combusken's flank, Combusken responded by jumping over it and landed close enough to land the second kick into Caesar's side.

"Try again with another Tackle!" Akari said.

"Peck," Frederica ordered.

Caesar rammed himself into Combusken's stomach, Combusken's beak glowed white before he slammed it into Caesar's head. Caesar stumbled back, a bit disoriented by the blunt force impact.

"Quick double kick!" Frederica yelled, Combusken set himself in a stance and quickly threw two kicks into Caesar. Caesar went flying, and struggled to get up.

"Caesar, return!" Akari said, and he was sucked into his pokeball. "Alright Kars, it's your turn!" She said, and Kars took to the skies. "Use Quick Attack!"

Frederica scrunched her forehead as the tiny bird slammed into Combusken's side at blinding speed. "Come back!" She yelled returning Combusken. "Go Ralts!" She yelled.

Ralts landed on the battlefield with a dainty poof of dirt. "Ralts," She said calmly looking up at the flying Kars. Kars looked down at Ralts with confidence.

"Kars, Wing Attack!" Akari said.

"Ralts Disarming Voice!" Frederica yelled.

Ralts opened her mouth and let out a loud shriek that sent a beam of pink hearts at Kars. Kars was buffeted by the beam and tried his best to keep flying.

"Try Another Wing Attack!" Akari said.

"Double Team," Frederica said. Ralts quickly started moving fast enough to make four illusionary clones to confuse Kars. Confused on which to hit, he went for the farthest left. Ralts was sent flying by Kars's wing hitting her in the stomach.

"Confusion!" Frederica yelled.

"Dodge and Tackle!" Akari said.

Ralts's body became covered in a blue aura as she reached out to grab Kars with her telekinetic powers. Kars swooped around and hit Ralts full on.

Frederica smirked. "Teleport!" Ralts quickly retracted her psychic energy causing her to glow multicolored, before disappearing in a blue light. "Go Plusle!" She yelled throwing out Plusle's pokeball.

"Plus!" Plusle yelled happily throwing off sparks as she danced around. Kars struggles to stop himself from running into a tree.

"Nuzzle!" Frederica said. Plusle started running at full speed at the flying pokemon, jumping up and grabbing him in a hug while nuzzling him with her cheek, sending a painful electric shock through his body that left him paralyzed. "Plus!" Plusle yelled jumping off Kars and landing in the nearby tree. "Plus Plus!"

"Kars return!" Akari said. She was hesitant to go into Jonathan knowing that she had a fire type, but she had no other choice. "Jonathan, you're up!" She said, and he emerged. "Turtwig!" He said, determined.

"Plusle return, go Combusken!" Frederica yelled. Combusken landed in a ready pose, tense and ready to attack.

"Be careful, Withdraw!" Akari said. Jonathan enveloped himself in a small bubble of water, which absorbed into his shell.

"Ember!" Frederica said. Combusken spat out a small fireball that hit Jonathan's shell.

"Alright, now use Absorb!" Akari said. Jonathan's leaves glowed green, and small droplets flowed from Combusken to him. The small amount of damage caused by Ember healed up.

"Peck," Frederica said, Combusken nodded and charged at Jonathan, beak glowing as he prepared to hit the grassy turtle.

"Dodge and Tackle!" Akari said. Jonathan scrambled out of the way and slammed into Combusken. Who responded by smashing his beak into Jonathan's head. "Now use Absorb again!" Akari called out.

"Dodge and Ember," Frederica ordered in pokespeak, Combusken jumped over the droplets and fired a fireball at Jonathan again. It hit Jonathan's shell, and pushed him back a bit.

"Absorb again!" Akari said. Her hair was slowly turning an icy blue.

"Dodge and Double Kick." Combusken dodged the droplets again and kicked Jonathan across the field like a soccer ball.

"Oh no, Jonathan!" Akari shrieked, her hair a darker blue as she ran off to get Jonathan. She found him next to a cliff side, all beaten up. She quickly returned him to his pokeball.

Frederica let out her pokemon and fed them some berries to heal. "Good job out there everyone," She praised as the ate.

"I didn't get to fight," Aron whined.

"And we didn't get to do our super cool thing!" Minum said sitting beside Plusle.

Frederica ignored the two whining and continued to make sure everyone's healed up. Akari soon returned, the blue in her hair fading back into its normal gold.

"Akari, if I may ask, what's going on with your hair?" Lillie asked. She had observed the battle with wariness, she didn't much like Pokémon battles.

"Hmm? Oh, it's a type of hair dye that mimics Kecleon chromatophores. It changes color with my mood." Akari explained. "I used to have a guide to the colors, but I lost it."

"You get really into these battles then?" Lillie asked. Akari looked away, and her hair tinted a bit blue.

"Not the battles so much as the Pokémon. I get easily attached to my Pokémon, I should really go to the Pokémon Center seeing as it's right around the corner." Akari said.

Frederica put everyone away. "Lillie," She said turning to the girl.

"Yes?" Lillie asked.

"We get supplies," She said forcefully.

"Oh, um, ok." Lillie said. As the two went to town, Akari briefly separated to get her Pokémon healed up, and then rejoined them at the pokemart.

Frederica grabbed everything needed for Lillie to be an actual trainer, even another outfit after Lillie refused to wear Frederica's deer skin clothing. Akari kept an eye on the two and picked up some supplementary gear for herself. When the group exited the store, Lillie looked like a whole new person.

"Alright, now that that's taken care of, I suppose we should go get our badges?" Akari asked.

"Yes," Frederica nodded. "We battle, we win!" She cheered. "Then we go digging!"

"Digging for what?" Lillie asked.

"Fossil pokemon and stones," Frederica explained. "Roark lead Underground Club, gives out Explorer Kits to trainers."

"Oh yeah, I remember that." Akari said.

"Yes," Frederica said nodding. "I want a Cranidos."

"Nice pick. I'm hoping to find an Amaura. Lillie, which one would you like?" Akari asked.

"I'm not really sure. I've never encountered a Fossil Pokémon before." Lillie admitted.

"Fossil Pokemon difficult," Frederica said. "Some very hard won't listen without firm training, some much easier not leaders or loners."

"We'll just have to see how it goes. But for now," Akari said, turning to face the entrance of the gym. "-we have bigger fish to fry."

Frederica gave an animalistic smirk and then a howl that made everyone around her look at her in confusion as she walked inside. Akari was similarly confident, and her hair seemed to glimmer in the light like the coat of a shiny Pokémon. Akari ran up a set of stairs to the left and looked out upon the gym. There were two paths one could take: the efficient way around, or the exciting way through. She decided to take the efficient way. Frederica went down the middle, wanting to challenge herself. Lillie hung back, she wasn't into gym battles.

Akari got to Roark first. "Gym Leader Roark, I challenge you to glorious battle!" She shouted dramatically, pointing at the man in question.

Roark was a bit taken aback by this display. "Well there's no need to be so dramatic about it!" He said, laughing nervously. "But I am the Gym Leader, and I have to see your potential as a trainer, and the toughness of the Pokémon that battle with you!" And this the battle began.

"Go, Geodude!" Roark called out, and said Pokémon emerged onto the field.

Akari smiled. "Jonathan, let's go!" She said, and the Turtwig was hyped up to battle.

"Alright Geodude, use Rock Throw!" Roark commanded.

"Use Razor Leaf!" Akari said.

Geodude hefted a rock towards Jonathan, who generated a bunch of razor sharp leaves from his little twig and flung them forwards. Many of them sliced the boulder up, but a few got through and hit Geodude.

"Use Stealth Rock!" Roark called out. Geodude swiped up a bunch of shards from the ground and tossed them near Jonathan.

"Don't be dissuaded by those stones. Use Razor Leaf again!" Akari said.

"Dodge and use Rock Throw!" Roark called. Geodude nimbly dodged Jonathan's leaves and chucked another rock at Jonathan, this time hitting the Turtwig straight on.

"Use Absorb!" Akari said. Jonathan absorbed green droplets from Geodude, draining it considerably.

"Rock Throw!" Roark called.

"Dodge and use one more Razor Leaf!" Akari called. Jonathan ran out of the way of the rock, and his leaves struck Geodude right on. Geodude tried to get up, but couldn't.

"Geodude, return!" Roark called out, then switched out for his next Pokémon. "Go, Onix!"

A huge snake made of rocks emerged onto the field with a roar. "Now use Rock Throw!"

Onix chucked one of the boulders from its tail at Jonathan, and it hit him dead on.

"Jonathan, Use Absorb!" Akari said. Turtwig absorbed some energy from Onix, healing some of his wounds. Onix felt a little woozy after that but remained resilient.

"Use Rock Throw!" Roark commanded. Another boulder hit Jonathan before either him or Akari could react. The Onix was fast for its size.

"Absorb again!" Akari said.

"Dodge and use Rock Throw!" Roark commanded. Onix was able to avoid the attack and hit Jonathan with another rock.

"One more time! Absorb!" Akari called out. Jonathan was able to hit Onix that time, and sucked the rest of its energy out. Onix fell to the ground.

"Onix, return!" Roark said, and switched to his last Pokémon. "Go, Cranidos! Think you can take down this Pokémon like you did the last?" He asked.

"Perhaps. Jonathan, Razor Leaf!" Akari said.

"Cranidos, Headbutt!" Roark commanded. Jonathan's Razor Leaf hit Cranidos head on, but it charged through and crashed into Jonathan regardless of the damage it took. Jonathan tumbled backwards, looking a bit worse for wear by now.

"Absorb!" Akari said.

"Dodge and use Headbutt!" Roark called. The Headbutt threw Jonathan to Akari's feet. He was beaten badly. Not fainted, but very low on HP.

"Jonathan, re-" Akari started, but he got up, determined to finish the battle himself. Akari could see the passion in his eyes. "Alright then, use Absorb!"

The attack hit Cranidos, sucking up a lot of its energy and healing Jonathan.

"It's not over yet! Use Headbutt!" Roark called.

"Dodge, and finish this with Razor Leaf!" Akari called out. Jonathan took a running start, jumped over Cranidos, and shot several leaves into him. Cranidos fell to the ground. They had won. Akari picked up Jonathan and hugged him in joy.

"Cranidos, return!" Roark said. "This is embarrassing… I went and lost to a trainer without a single Badge… But that's tough. You were strong, and I was weak. That's all there is. I'm accordance with the Pokémon League rules, I am to present you with this Badge. The Coal Badge."

He held out a small pin that looked like a side view of a treasure chest, which Akari eagerly snatched up.

"Having that Coal Badge means that you can now use the HM Rock Smash outside of battle. You'll want to take this as well." He said, handing Akari a disk. "That's got Stealth Rock on it. It inflicts damage when the opponent switches Pokémon." Roark explained.

"Thank you." Akari said, and as she was leaving, Frederica made her way to the platform.

"Lets go!" She roared, Roark took a step back in shock, but reset and after giving the same speech the battle was on.

"Go Geodude!" Roark he said throwing out his first pokemon. Frederica smirked and threw out pher Combusken.

"Double Kick!" Frederica yelled. Combusken nodded and ran ahead full speed ready to kick Geodude.

"Stealth Rock!" Roark ordered, Geodude grabbed a few sharp stones and chucked them around the battlefield just as Combusken's two kicks hit him in the face. "Now use Rock Throw!" He ordered. Geodude grabbed a nearby stone and threw it at Combusken's face.

"Dodge and use Double Kick again!" Frederica yelled. Combusken jumped to the side narrowly avoiding the thrown stone as he spun around into another kick aimed at Geodude's back.

Roark hissed as he watched his pokemon go flying from Combusken's kicks, landing hard enough to finally knock him out,

"Alright come back!" He said returning Geodude. "Go Onix!" He yelled as his massive pokemon appeared to glare down at Combusken. Combusken sent his stance unflinchingly.

"Combusken Double Kick," Frederica ordered, it was a little cheesy she knew, but when it comes to battling it doesn't matter.

"Rock Throw!" Roark yelled.

Onix swung it's massive tail at Combusken, who met the tail with it's own kick, sending the Combusken flying away, but the impact hit Onix hard.

"You ok?" Frederica asked Combusken as he stood up from the impact.

"Yes," Combusken responded. "Though he hits like a Tauros," The flaming chicken said with a chuckle.

"Want to come back?" Frederica asked and Combusken shook his head. "Alright then Double Kick!"

Combusken quickly took off before Roark could give his order and hit the large snake in the face with a high flying kick, knocking it out cold.

"Well then," Roark said returning Onix. "Now let's see if you can handle this, go Cranidos!"

"Cranidos!" The small Micropachycephalosaurus roared as he scratch at the dirt with his foot.

"Go Pursuit!" Roark yelled as his Cranidos bent over and charged ahead at full speed towards Combusken.

"Wait, then you know what to do," Frederica said, and Combusken nodded, waiting till Cranidos was as close as possible before kicking him in the face, landing a critical hit hard enough to knock him unconscious.

"Aw man, two in a row?" Roark said. "Well, anyway, I present you with the Coal Badge and TM76 Stealth Rock." He said, holding out Frederica's prizes.

"Thank you," She said taking the badge. "Now need Explorer Kit," She asked.

"Oh, you wanted to join the Underground Club? Hold on, I've got a couple of kits in the back." Roark said, and went to a door on the left side of the room.

"We need three. One is for our Coordinator friend." Akari said.

"Got it. Ah, here we are!" Roark said, and came back with three Explorer Kits. Frederica excitedly grabbed hers and took off running outside before anyone could stop her.

"Oh well she seems excited," Roark said chucking.

"Yep. We're all excited to get a fossil Pokémon actually." Akari said, taking the other two.

"That may be, but I need to explain how these work first," Roark said. "You'll have to tell your friend later."

"Alright." Akari said.

Roark quickly explained how to enter the underground via the vents, how to find safe digging spots, and how to make a secret base and put down traps, which Akari reiterated when she caught up with Frederica, who was trying to enter the underground through the town mine, much to the annoyance of the mine workers who had to keep dragging her out.

"So that's how we get there." Akari said.

Frederica sneered at the miners, but relented and followed Akari and Lillie into the underground.

"And now we hunt for fossils." Akari said. "And other treasures, but mostly fossils."

Frederica was already ahead of them, scouring the walls for a the perfect digging spot. Akari shrugged, and started off to find her fossils, and Lillie was the last to leave, walking at a more leisurely pace to find something of value. That made it curious when she was the first to find anything of value, a Moon Stone.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Sekhmet: We round out the party this week with Green. Also FOSSIL Pokémon!**

**Susano-o: I love Green, also this isn't a filler chapter so much as a 'doing the fun things you do in the games chapter' to add some fun and bring it back to the games. **

**Sekhmet: We get new Pokémon, that should be reason enough for this chapter to exist. Amaura is easily my favorite fossil Pokémon so far. **

**Susano-o: Also we get the reveal of Nebby, as Cosmoem because it's easier to take care off. **

**Sekhmet: Yes it just sits there in its antigravity field until plot demands it.**

**Susano-o: And we wrap it all up with more Akari weirdness. **

**Sekhmet: Yes. I have her on a sliding scale of weirdness, the closer you get to the reveal, the weirder she'll get.**

**Susano-o: So let's go.**

Chapter 5: Digging for Gold

Frederica sniffed and felt at another spot, and gave a dissatisfied hiss when she found it didn't have a fossil. Walking away she felt out another spot this time the wall gave way to reveal another person's secret base.

"_Oh hello," _Frederica thought as she went inside and made her way inside to steal the base's flag, snagging it she ran outside with a chuckle as she took off running through the underground to make her own base.

….

Akari was frustrated. She'd found plenty of things; evolutionary stones, Damp Rocks, these dumb spheres, even a Heart Scale or two, but no fossils. She swung her pick into another spot. 4 Confirmed, great.

She chipped away at the small rocks, and saw something strange. A small round rock, green in color and with some sort of outline. At first she thought it was a Light Clay, but as she uncovered it more, she jumped with triumph. It was exactly what she was looking for, a Sail Fossil! She carefully put it in her bag and dig up the rest of the treasure, though it pales in comparison to her new find.

…

Lillie was having a wonderful time. Although she hadn't found a fossil yet, she had found many other treasures, like evolutionary stones and these shiny spheres.

She finished a dig site. More of the shiny spheres, and a clay shard of something. She kept digging.

…

Frederica set up her base and finally released the tension that had been building up in her shoulders, her base back in Hoenn had been her sanctuary after she left her pack to become a trainer and it was a perfect escape when the normal world of humans became overwhelming and she just needed a place to be herself, surrounded by nothing but the unjudging eyes of her team and her own quiet thoughts.

"This," She said as her pokemon all huddled around her comfortably. "This is something I missed." She whispered quietly, she didn't mind her new companions at all, but they weren't like her and she wasn't like them, so a break apart would be good for all of them. With that thought Frederica got up to start laying traps around her base and burying some spheres to trade with the other people in the underground.

…

Lillie had just dug into a new site when she came upon something strange. A blue rock with a feather in it. It wasn't like anything she had found previously, so she put it in her bag and continued digging, planning to show her companions when they all went up.

…

Having found what she came down for, Akari had created a veritable sphere Graveyard out of all the spheres she had dug up along the way. She even had enough to purchase a Digger Drill from a trader and make a Secret Base for herself, far down in the corner of the accessible tunnels. After she had established herself, she started laying down even more traps, staggered around each other so that she could still weave her way through, but anyone walking blindly would fall victim to her webs.

She looked over her current inventory. She'd gathered a lot of impressive treasures, and the Sail Fossil was obviously first in the list, but a definite number 2 were these two Star Pieces she got one hole after the other. You could make a necklace out of these things...

…

Frederica smirked as she put the final trap down, that should help keep her base safe.

"Hey!" A voice called out from down the tunnel, Frederica turned around and saw a girl glaring at her from around the corner. "Did you take my flag?" She asked crossing her arms.

"Maybe," Frederica said snickering.

The trainer glared at her for a second longer before breaking out into giggles. "Good one," She said smiling. "Now I'll have to find yours and return the favor," She said walking over and holding out her hands. "Hello I'm Green!" She said introducing herself.

"Frederica," Frederica said taking the offered hand.

"Well then Frederica," Green said getting down to Frederica's level. "Find anything interesting? You know apart from my flag," She chuckled.

Frederica smiled and nodded, opened her pack to show Green her collection of shards and stones.

"Ooh thats an Oval Stone," Green asked pointing at the egg shaped stone in Frederica's pack. "Do you need it? I'll trade you a few things I found in exchange for it," She asked holding out her bag as well.

Frederica looking into the bag, seeing a Skull Fossil she quickly handing her stone over and took the fossil. Green took the stone with and excited giggle. "Finally my Happiny can evolve!" She said excitedly.

Frederica smiled at the girls' enthusiasm and the two settled town together to discuss pokemon.

….

Akari and Lillie met back up while looking for more treasure.

"My bag's full. What about you?" Akari asked.

"Yes, so is mine. Did you find that fossil you wanted?" Lillie asked.

"Yeah. What about you?" Akari asked.

"I think I found a few." Lillie said.

"Alright. Let's find Frederica and get outta here. I like it down here and all, but it's starting to give me claustrophobia." Akari said. The two went walking, trying to find their companion.

…

Frederica was amazed, Green knew obscure facts about pokemon habits and habitats she had only heard from people like Professor's Birch and even things that she had told him about because she had first hand knowledge of them, it was amazing to be able to talk to someone who knew these things as well. That wasn't the only thing that made her like the girl, she was patient, letting Frederica work her way through what she was trying to say in her own way and at her own pace, it was nice. Right now Green was regaling her with stories of her travels helping other professors around the world.

"So then I finally found it, a HUGE Joltik nest that was set up at the power station!" Green said waving her arms around to demonstrate the size. "It was like twice the size that Professor Juniper was expecting and it took forever to finally get them all to move into Chargestone Cave!"

Frederica chuckled at Green's story, she apparently been to almost every region and seemed like she had seen every pokemon in the world at least once.

"Hey, there you are Frederica. Who's the new girl?" Akari asked, her and Lillie walking up to the two.

"Hello," Green said smiling as she stood up. "I'm Green."

"Akari." Akari said.

"I'm Lillie." Lillie said.

"Our bags are full. What about you?" Akari asked Frederica.

Frederica nodded. "Yes," She said hitching up her pack.

"Alright, let's get our fossils revived and it's off to the next gym I believe." Akari said.

"Oh you're doing the Sinnoh League?" Green asked.

"Yep, and Contests." Akari said.

"Nice," Green said smiling. "I'm doing it too."

"So do you already have the Coal Badge?" Lillie asked.

"Yep!" Green said pulling out her badge case and showing off her badges, from four different regions.

"How long have you been doing this?" Akari asked in disbelief.

"Since I was eleven," Green said. "I'm only 16 in case you're wondering."

"That's some pro stuff right there." Akari said. "Frederica and I just started ours, and Lillie's a Coordinator."

Green looked down. "Yeah I'm pretty good," She said unconvincingly before the look passed and she looked up again. "So yeah Coordinator, do you have a Coordination Controller?" She asked Lillie.

"No, I don't think so." Lillie admitted.

"Well you'd better pick one up when you get to Eterna City," Green explained. "It will allow you to train higher level traded pokemon without having the requisite badges and teach low level pokemon high level moves, however it only works if you use the pokemon for contests, if you try to use it for battle they'll start disobeying you again and the moves won't work."

"Sounds handy." Akari said. "But we're a long way from Hearthome. It'll be a while. I mean, we've gotta backtrack and everything just to get to the next gym."

"Yeah, the routes here are a little confusing," Green admitted. "And there's so many HM's you need to keep track of."

Akari came to a realization at that. "Guys...we never got the HM for Rock Smash, did we?" She asked.

Lillie blushed and shook her head, Frederica smacked her forehead at her forgetfulness. "We gotta go get that then." Akari said.

"Oh you can get it from the gym attendant," Green explained looking at her Poketch. "Come on we can get it right quick before the gym closes," She said waving them towards the nearest vent.

…

With the new HM under their belts, the four headed over to the Fossil Restoration Center, only to find it closed.

"Crap, we have to wait till tomorrow!" Akari said, disappointed that she wouldn't get her new Pokémon today.

"Spent too long underground," Frederica added. If Lillie was being completely honest with herself, she was a bit relieved. Still, it was a bit disappointing to not see some ancient Pokémon that she'd only read about in books.

Frederica sighed and started walking towards the woods. "We wait, go tomorrow morning, get back to Jubilife early," She insisted.

"Alright. I'll go rent out another room." Akari said.

"I go night hunting," Frederica said turning to them. "Join?" She asked.

Akari thought about it for a second. "Nah. You don't want me on your team for a stealth based activity. I'm too clumsy when it counts."

"I'll pass." Lillie said, trying to be as polite as possible.

"I'll go," Green said. "We can find a sleeping Budew for my team."

"Alright. I'll rent a room, and tell them you'll be back late." Akari said.

….

The format of the dream was always the same. It was the objects that changed.

This time, Akari was standing on a boat, still falling into whatever abyss lurked below. Candles, shirts, pants, and a roll of carpet were the objects falling with her tonight. Seemingly right on cue, the sound faded in. It got louder and louder until it was unbearable, and just as it burst her ears, Akari woke up. Once again, Frederica, and now Green weren't in the room, and Lillie was still asleep. Akari sighed, and started getting ready for the day.

"So really, what's the Pokémon in the bag?" Akari asked. Lillie froze, seeming to look around for an excuse.

"Um, I-" she started.

"Lillie. You can't hide it forever. We're gonna find out eventually. What's in the bag?" Akari asked.

Lillie realized that she had run out of options. "Promise you won't tell anybody?" She asked.

"Of course not." Akari said. Lillie looked around the room, as if there were some sort of spy in the room, and then closed the curtains for good measure. She unzipped her bag and pulled out a small...thing. It appeared to be mostly gold, wrapped around a purple glasslike orb and having a sleeping face on a black core.

"Is that a Pokémon?" Akari asked. "You've been making a big deal out of this dinky little thing?"

"I know it seems silly, but Nebby is very important to me. Three weeks ago, he turned into this and I don't know how to get him back." Lillie said. "I just want to help him."

Before Akari could continue, Green and Frederica entered the room.

"Hey! We caught so many pokemon!" Green said excitedly. "Professor Elm and Oak are gonna love being able to study them!"

Frederica nodded. "Found odd ones too," She said letting out one of them, a Lotad. "Rare to find here," She explained.

"Oh cool." Akari said. Lillie slipped the Cosmoem back into her bag. "Speaking of which, let's go revive our fossils!" She said, digging out her Sail Fossil.

The two nodded, having heard the earlier conversation, but not wanting to pressure the poor girl. "I got a Jaw Fossil I need to revive," Green said, holding out her fossil. "Or as much as they can, Tyrunts don't come back fully intact, it's been theorized they were actually covered in a lot more feathers than their revived forms imply," She explained loving any excuse to talk about obscure pokemon facts.

"Nice. I've got an Amaura to add to my team!" Akari said. "Lillie, did you decide which one you wanted?"

"I think so." Lillie said, holding out the Plume Fossil she had found.

Frederica looked at the fossil with interest. "We go now," She said grabbing as many people's hands as possible and pulling them outside towards the museum.

The museum, needless to say, was not exactly prepared for three chaotic children and one much more mild mannered child all asking at once to get fossils revived.

"Slow down, get in a nice orderly line first!" The attendant said. "Now, who's first?"

"Oh, me me!" Akari said from the front of the line. She slammed down the fossil so hard it almost broke.

"Ah yes, a Sail Fossil. These have shown up more and more frequently in the recent years." The attendant mused, taking the fossil into the back room. The next few minutes were an agonizing wait. Akari tapped her foot in wait. Soon, the attendant called in Akari and only Akari, as imprinting was a big issue the facility regularly dealt with.

Akari was met with a small blue sauropod, two tufts of a rainbow colored membrane still stuck to its head. As it opened its eyes, it shook off the rest of the growth fluid like a puppy.

"It's a girl. Rare for a fossil Pokémon." The attendant said.

"Erina. I'll name her Erina." Akari said, beside herself in awe. She scooped up the baby Dino, and she nuzzled her head under her neck.

Akari walked out with her new Pokémon, and after quietly showing it off to her friends, put her in her pokeball.

Frederica went next, the attendant took her Skull Fossil to the back and after a few minutes called the wild girl into the back room. Frederica looked down at the recovering blue and grey Micropachycephalosaurus, getting down on all fours she growled at the tiny pokemon. The Cranidos responded by roaring and scratching at the floor ready to charge at Frederica. Frederica snarled and tackled the tiny pokemon to the ground and the two started battling for dominance, but by nature of having opposable thumbs Frederica was able to pin the tiny dinosaur to the ground, after a few seconds of fighting the Cranidos gave up and submitted. Frederica smiled and nuzzled her head against its, letting it know she wasn't angry.

"Umm ok," The attendant said in shock. "It's a male for the record."

Frederica walked out carrying the smaller dinosaur and after introducing him to the rest of her pokemon she put him in his pokeball.

"Come on, it's your turn Lillie!" Akari said, giving her a pat on the back.

"What if it doesn't like me?" Lillie asked, scared.

"It's a baby Pokémon. The first thing it'll see is you. It'll be fine." Akari said encouragingly.

Lillie gulped, and presented her fossil to the attendant, who took it into the room. After a few minutes, Lillie was brought into the room, and met with a soggy yellow bird with a red beak and blue face. A few teeth poked out of its mouth. Slowly she went out to touch it. It cocked its head a few times, and jumped onto her, catching Lillie off guard and making her fall over. Otherwise though, it was friendly.

"Male Archen." The attendant noted, as it wasn't unusual. Lillie brought him out to show her companions, and though he squirmed from being held weird, he seemed very happy. Lillie put him into his pokeball after everyone had seen him.

"Alright!" Green said excitedly. "Now it's my turn!" She said handing over her Jaw Fossil and bouncing up and down excitedly as the attendant took it back. Once she was called back she was met with a miniature tyrannosaurus trying to shake dry it's feathery collar. Green held out a few pieces of meat for it, making sure to keep her fingers together and flat so they wouldn't get bit, the Tyrunt wobbled over and took the offered treats, letting out an excited noise as a result. "I'll name you Tyree!" She said excitedly.

"Male Tyrunt," The attendant said and the three walked outside to meet everyone. "Any others?" He asked the three.

"I'm all good." Akari said.

"One's more than enough for me." Lillie said.

Frederica shook her head.

"Thank you for visiting. Please come again!" The attendant said. The four walked out, and set out backtracking to Jubilife.

"We'll make it to the next town by sunset, right?" Akari asked.

"Probably," Green said looking at the map. "Then it's just a nice walk up route 204 to Floaroma town."

"That sounds nice. Floraroma. I get the image of flower fields." Lillie said.

"Flowers nice," Frederica nodded.

"Well then with our new Rock Smash HM's we can get through the Ravaged Path," Green said excitedly. "So let's get going everyone."

"Yeah! New area!" Akari cheered.

"Umm, yeah." Lillie agreed.

Frederica howled into the night.

…

On their way to scout route 204, the group ran into more of those Galactic grunts.

"Hey," the grunt said crossing her arms. "We need to talk to you."

Green, having not encountered Team Galactic before, was confused. "Why?" She asked

"Green, you don't want to be involved with these people. They give off bad feelings." Akari whispered. Lillie was doing her best not to be noticed by the grunts.

Green, remembering how to deal with team Rocket grunts, took a step back and smiled while palming a pokeball. "Again, why do you need us?" She asked.

"We need her," Grunt said pointing at Frederica, who Lilie was hiding behind.

"Leave her alone." Akari said firmly. "She's not going with you."

Green quickly threw her pokeball.. "Milla go!" She yelled as her pokemon, a beautiful Milotic, raised up to battle.

"Milotic," She crooned looking down at the grunts, who took one look at the big fish and ran away.

"And stay away!" Akari added with a smirk, watching them run. Frederica roared and laughed. Lille, however, was not as amused with the situation.

….

"Sorry about this," Nurse Joy said leading them to their room. "We're a bit full today, this is the last room we have."

The four looked around the room, which was rather nice except it only had one king sized bed.

"Well then," Green said looking at her companion, only to be shocked when Frederica had already stripped down to nothing and climbed on top of the covers.

"There is no issue." Akari said, setting down her bag.

"What?! What do you mean no issue?!" Lillie practically screeched, biding her blushing face.

"It is a bed, and an exceptionally large one at that. No issues here." Akari said. Lillie couldn't fault her logic, but she still was embarrassed by it. Sharing a bed with three strangers, one of which was already naked? It was unfathomable!

"You'll need the rest. We may run into similar situations, so you'll have to put on a brave face." Akari said.

Frederica responded by grabbing the poor girl and wrapping herself around her like a teddy bear. "Sleep in pile for warmth," She explained to the blushing girl. "Freezing not worth privacy."

Lillie grumbled in embarrassment and put her head in the pillow, determined not to look at anybody. Sleep called for the girls soon enough, and it claimed them one by one.

…

Lillie woke up in the middle of the night needing to pee. She untangled herself from a pile of limbs and bodies and went to the bathroom, also getting a drink of water while she was there.

As she turned off the water from washing her hands, she heard a weird noise coming from the bed. As she got back to bed, she realized that it was Akari, mumbling to herself in her sleep.

This wasn't an ordinary mumbling though. It sounded like she was fully awake, talking like she was being fast forwarded at 16x speed. Lillie tried to listen to it, but she couldn't decipher it. As she leaned in to listen closer, Akari made a high pitched noise for about five seconds that made Lillie reel back. Frederica suddenly shot up with a flip, sending everyone tumbling to the ground as she reared back on her nonexistent haunches to sweep for threats, roaring and snarling like an angry dog as she did, screaming in a language none of them could understand.

"What the-?" Green yelled as Frederica's pokemon forced their way out of their pokeballs at Frederica's call, filling the room with even more noise as no one knew what was going on.

"What the gruff?! This room is a distortion nightmare!" Akari yelled, fully awake at the cacophony of screeches.

"Akari, what's going on?!" Lillie yelled.

"I don't know! Who did this?!" Akari yelled back.

"I don't know!" Green yelled trying to calm the pokemon, Frederica at this point had jumped off the bed and was canvassing the entire room looking for threats.

"Frederica stop! The door is locked!" Akari yelled.

"Araki what was that noise?" Lillie asked as Green went to calm Frederica down.

"What noise?! I was asleep up until now!" Akari shouted.

"You made a noise that set her off!" Lillie yelled.

"I don't know what you're talking about! I was just having the falling dream I always have!" Akari yelled.

"Can you both please stop screaming," Green asked as Frederica finally stopped and started getting her menagerie under control. "We're already gonna be in trouble, more yelling isn't going to help."

"Ok, ok." Akari said, putting one hand up and pinching the bridge of her nose with the other. "Let's just await our chewing out then."


	6. Chapter 6

**Susano-o: This one didn't turn out like I expected. **

**Sekhmet: That's cause we split this chapter in half because it got too long. **

**Susano-o: We split the last two and the next because they got too long, but really it comes down to the fact that the bad blood between the characters that they needed to sort out that kinda got pushed to the side. **

**Sekhmet: Yeah we kept putting it off and it never really happened. As far as I know, they're bottling it up, and as you know if you read our Evangelion fic, this will not do. **

**Susano-o: They'll talk eventually but for now it's stuck with two of them being aggressively hostile, one being a mediator, and one stuck in the middle. **

**Sekhmet: Yeah it sucks. Hopefully we'll write a plot point where she's forced to apologize soon but until then, enjoy the chapter. **

Chapter 6: Walking and Talking

Their chewing out was actually then getting kicked out for disturbing the peace.

"Camping it is then." Akari said, hefting some extra stuff behind her to help with the load.

Frederica found herself a nice tree to curl up in. Akari slept on the ground because she had caused this problem and she had apparently decided that this was her punishment. Lillie slept in a sleeping bag like a normal person, and Green slept in a tent.

….

"Ok," Green said as they ate breakfast caught by Frederica. "What happened last night no more secrets."

"I apparently made a high pitched noise." Akari said.

"More like Mighteyana whine," Frederica snarked.

"Whatever." Akari said.

"I think she means," Green said calmly. "That your noise was high pitched enough she thought that it was one of her packmates in trouble, right Frederica?" Frederica nodded in agreement.

"And that caused the chain of events to kick off, leading to us getting here." Lillie said.

"Yes," Green agreed.

"Well I'll try not to make that noise again then." Akari said.

"Good," Frederica said standing up. "Now we go," she said packing up their stuff.

….

The walk to Floraroma was awkward to say the least, everyone was tense and refused to address the elephant in the room, they were all keeping secrets from each other.

Frederica was seriously considering leaving, she was a pack member and keeping secrets in a pack was dangerous, if they weren't going to be honest then she wasn't gonna deal with it.

Lillie was practically dying inside. Nebby couldn't possibly be safe in this kind of environment. But on the other hand, she would have never gotten here without them. She had to stay.

Akari was just frustrated with the situation. She didn't want to initiate any kind of conversation. She just wanted this conflict to go away.

Green sighed as she realized how much of a hypocrite she was being, telling everyone to stop holding secrets when she herself was holding back from telling everyone about herself, she wanted to tell them, but the last time she opened up to someone it ended badly, so she held back.

….

"Here we are," Green said as they reached the entrance to Ravaged Path. "Once we go through and smash the rocks we'll be on our way."

"That's great. I think by the time we reach those flowers, the past will be behind us." Akari offered.

Frederica just rolled her eyes with a growl. "Alright," She said walking into the cave.

Lillie nodded. "Behind us…" she muttered.

"Let's get smashing." Akari said, and brought out Erina, who had learned the TM.

Green quickly lead the way rock barrier splitting the path, stopping for a second to admire the way that pokemon erected them to mark their territories.

"Erina! Clear us a path with Rock Smash!" Akari said. Erina reared back and trampled one of the rock piles with all her baby Pokémon strength.

"Glad we can get through now." Lillie said.

"Alright people one at a time before the pokemon come back to seal up the hole," Green said waving everyone through.

"It's weird how that happens." Akari said, retrieving Erina.

"Not really. They use it to mark territory." Lillie said.

Frederica nodded. "All HM's used to remove markers," She elaborated crawling through herself. Green quickly crawled through as well, just as a few Geodudes appeared to block it up again.

"Alright," Green said. "Just a little bit longer and we'll be there.

"Can't wait to roll around in those flowers." Akari said. Lillie nodded as well, though didn't share the rolling sentiment. Frederica just kept walking.

Green sighed and swiftly brought everyone back together for the final leg of their journey.

Floraroma Town was a place ablaze with color and fragrance. It only played host to a few buildings, but the important things were there, including a PokeCenter, Mart, and a lot of flowers. There was also a feels houses and a flower shop.

"Finally." Akari muttered, and sucked in the fragrance through her nose. It turned her previously darker shade of hair a pastel shade of pink.

Frederica sneezed at the aroma for a few minutes before settling down and breathing deeply from a flower bed and rolling around in it to mask her scent.

Lillie simply admired the smell, and picked a single flower from the ground around her.

"Alright," Frederica said rolling around. "Let's go, forest aways."

"Alright." Lillie said, and the four started their walk to the forest.

"Help!" a little girl whined running through the town. "Help help!"

"What, what's wrong?" Akari asked as she ran past the group.

"My daddy was kidnapped by meanies in spacesuits!" she cried. "And they took over our windmill!"

Akari looked at the rest of the group, then back to the girl. "Did they have really ugly blue haircuts too?"

"Yes," the girl sniffed.

"Alright, we'll punch those meanies right in their dumb faces and get your dad back." Akari said. "Saddle up gang, were fighting some goons."

"Fight?" Lille asked with concern.

"Well were obviously not going to actually punch them. Laws of the land after all." Akari said.

"Don't be pup," Frederica snarked at Lillie. "Fighting is life."

"Oi, stop it. She's had bad experiences with these people before." Akari said. "Now let's go!"

"Yeah!" Green said smiling. "Let's go!"

Frederica roared into the sky as they let the girl lead them back to the windmill, where a single grunt was watching the door.

"Hey. What's up? We got business in here." Akari said.

"No you don't." The grunt said.

"How do you know we don't?" Akari argued.

"Because you look nothing like our members. Look, all business here is being conducted by Team Galactic. If it's not with us, you're not getting through." The grunt insisted.

"I don't know, I've got a lot of annoying questions. Are they REALLY paying you enough to put up with them?" Akari asked.

"Yes, actually. We get a nice dental plan." The grunt said.

"Alright fine. Hard way it is." Akari said, cracking her knuckles.

"I got this," Green said excitedly kicking a pokeball around like a soccer ball.

"Alright guess we are," The grunt said stretching his back. "Go Glameow!" He yelled throwing out his pokemon.

"Glameow," She purred.

"Go, Blasty!" Green yelled kicking her ball over to the field, revealing a Squirtle.

"Squirtle!" Squirtle said confidently.

"Glameow Fake Out!" The Grunt ordered as his pokemon ran at Squirtle, who took the smack with a small flinch.

"Blasty use Bubble!" Green ordered, and Squirtle responded with a smirk as it fired a small wave of bubbles that Glameow was unable to dodge, sending her tumbling to the ground.

"Glameow stand up and use Scratch!" The Grunt ordered.

"Blasty use Withdrawal!" Green quickly ordered, as Squrtile pulled himself inside his shell, making Glameow's attack bounce off him. "Now use Water Gun!"

Blasty quickly stuck his head out of his shell and fired a blast of water at the Glameow, sending it running around like a wet cat. "Now finish it off with Tackle!" Green said excitedly.

"Squirtle!" Blasty said excitedly leaving his shell to charge at Glameow, slamming into it as hard as possible, knocking it out cold.

"Woohoo!" Green yelled. "Good job buddy!" She said grabbing her pokemon in a hug.

"And now you gotta let us in." Akari said.

"No I don't. In fact, I'm locking the door." He said, and before anyone could react, he did in fact lock himself in.

"Well that was a load of Stunfisk." Akari muttered.

Frederica started scratching at the door like a dog trying to get in, even giving puppy dog eyes to the Grunt inside. He didn't fall for it. And Frederica started scratching at the door like a wild animal.

"What do we do now?" Lillie asked.

"Find another grunt and take the key?" Green suggested.

"Great idea. They must have keys to this place on them in case of lockdown." Akari said. "Let's go!"

"They may be in the flower meadow," The girl suggested.

"To the meadow!" Akari cheered.


	7. Chapter 7

**Sekhmet: Before we start anything, we have some announcements to make. Due to work and home lives getting increasingly busy up until the holidays, we can't upload two chapters a week anymore. I's just not feasible. Instead, we're gonna work on the chapters like usual, but post one chapter a week on an alternating schedule. It's why this week's chapters were late. We need to keep up a buffer of already done chapters, because we may not have a chance to work on a chapter one week, but we can still publish something that week. Usually we have a buffer of ten chapters. **

**Susano-o: Lillie finally finds her spine! **

**Sekhmet: And is probably traumatized in the process but…**

**Susano-o: Oh a little reverse trauma won't hurt, how could she be expected to be a coordinator if she can't handle pokemon? **

**Sekhmet: I dont' know. **

**Susano-o: She'll be fine, anyway we also get our first Galactic Commander. **

**Sekhmet: Arguably the winner of the company's "best dressed" award, because let's face it the others are no beauty contest winners either.**

**Susano-o: Saturn would be fine if his hair didn't give the Butt Witch a run for her money in gel usage. **

**Sekhmet: Saturn voiced by Matt Berry confirmed for gen 4 remake. **

**Susano-o:...But pokemon doesn't have voices. **

**Sekhmet: Matt will find a way to be in it. **

**Susano-o:...On with the show then. **

Chapter 7: Liberation at the Windworks

Frederica looked at the grunts standing around the honey tree in the center of the field, where they were taking turns kicking it due to boredom. Annoyed that her Poke-Nav wouldn't allow her to call her friends she started crawling back to them to give them an update.

"Hey! What are you doing?" One of the grunts yelled, pointing her out to the others.

Frederica snarled and scattered, hiding in the underbrush and holding her breath until they passed by.

"Find that kid. It can't have gotten far." He said.

Frederica slowly grabbed one of her small poison balls and chucked it at a tree a bit away from her, filing the area with around her with Vileplume spores. The grunts yelled and started choking, but they would be fine, it was only a distraction. Frederica crawled away as quick as she could back to her friends.

…

Akari had gotten distracted and was rolling around in the flowers. Her hair had turned the color of the surrounding flowers, a mess of pastel pinks, blues, purples and yellows.

"Having fun?" Green asked giggling the little girl joined in as she was making herself a flower crown.

"Yes." Akari said. Despite her physical enjoyment, she had her usual stone face on.

"Well you kinda don't look it," Lillie commented from her seat under a tree.

"I am feeling joy." Akari said, the colors fading back to her default gold color.

"Akari, no offense, but do you know how to smile?" Lillie asked.

"How do I do that?" Akari asked. The other two girls looked at each other awkwardly.

"Well, you just kind of show your teeth, like this." Lillie said, smiling. Akari tried to mimic it, but ended up looking terrifying. "Ok, please don't do that again. Umm, well, think of something that makes you laugh."

"What's that?" Akari asked.

"Wait, you've never laughed at anything? Why?" Lillie asked.

"I don't know…" Akari said pitifully.

"Like even when your younger?" Green asked.

"I don't think so." Akari said. "Mom never said I laughed."

"Not even once?" Lillie asked.

"I don't remember. I don't even think I'm from here. I don't know why, but I have a feeling I just woke up one day here, full grown. I can't remember anything before that..." Akari said.

Green and Lillie shared a look of confusion. "Umm, what's your earliest memory?" Green asked.

Akari thought about it, her hair darkening as she did. "Maybe a year ago?" Akari said. "I remember getting Jonathan, and catching Kars and Caesar, but not much before that. I don't even remember moving here if I did."

Green sat down as she tried to comprehend what she just heard, leaving Lillie alone to explain things to Akari. This is the scene Frederica returned too.

"Four of them," Frederica explained to the comatose Green.

"Yeah sure," Green said shaking her head.

"Fight time?" Akari asked, palming a pokeball. "Lillie, you might wanna go hide."

Lillie got up from her seat and went to hide in the nearby house, or tried too till Frederica grabbed her and shoved a pokeball in her hands.

"You, battle, now," She insisted.

"But I don't like Pokémon battles!" Lillie said.

"You practice," Frederica hissed. "Can not be trainer if you do not practice."

Before Lillie could respond, the grunts breached the clearing, covered in angry red hives. "It's that stupid girl and her friends!" One of them said.

"Get them! And get the white dress girl too!" Another said.

"What do I do, what do I do?!" Lillie stammered, playing hot potato with the pokeball.

Frederica reared back and shook her. "FIGHT!" She screamed in her face as she tossed out Combusken. "Use Double Kick!" She ordered as one of the grunt's Glameow charged her.

With a lack of other experience to draw off of, Lillie pitched the pokeball like a baseball. It nailed a grunt in the head with a painful crack, bouncing off and releasing the Pokémon within.

"Ralts," Ralts cooed as she landed in front of Lillie.

"Aaah, do something!" Lillie shrieked. Ralts looked at her in confusion before being slammed into by a Stunky and sent flying. Akari sent out Kars to perform some Wing Attacks and Green was using Blasty to spray them down with Water Gun.

"What moves does it know?" Akari asked.

"What?" Lillie asked.

"Use your Pokédex!" Akari said. Scrambling to open it, Lillie pointed it at Ralts, revealing its moveset.

"A-Alright. Umm, Magical Leaf?" Lillie asked. Ralts stopped its tumbling and shot purple leaves out of its palms, shredding nearby vegetation and sticking in the offending Stunky, disappearing after a few seconds.

"Ralts!" Ralts said happily.

"Uhh, again?" Lillie said. Another barrage of psychic leaves swept the field. "That's great! Again!" A third barrage lit up the field, causing a Glameow and a Zubat to faint.

Plusle Go!" Frederica yelled throwing the red mouse out. "Volt Switch!"

"Plus!" Plusle yelled running at the last Stunky while charging an electric ball in its hands, chucking it Plusle quickly disappeared back in it's ball with a flash of lightning, being replaced with Minum just as it went in, causing an electric wave to pass between them as their abilities activated.

"Minum Volt Switch! Frederica ordered and the same thing happened, causing their power to keep rising as they kept switching, till the Stunky was knocked out.

"Plus!" Plusle happily cheered rubbing up against Minum. "Min!" Minus responded rubbing back.

The grunts all stepped back as they watched Frederica snarl at them. "Ok ok!" One yelled chuckling a key at her. "This isn't worth it! I'm going back to Arkansas!" He yelled running away.

"What's an Arkansas?" Green asked scratching her head.

"Pokemon?" Frederica guessed.

"It sounds more like a place." Lillie said.

"And stay away!" Akari jeered before turning back to the group. "I dunno. But what I DO know is that we can complete our little side quest with the dungeon key. Let's heal up and get to it, shall we?"

Frederica nodded as she pet her pokemon, praising them for their good job. Akari gave Kars a hug before putting him back in his ball.

Lillie gave sort of an awkward look to Ralts. "So uhh, good job." She said nervously. Ralts shuffled over and gave her leg a hug. "Ralts," she said smiling up at Lillie. Lillie flinched hard in her tiny heart attack, but ultimately accepted the gesture. Ralts rubbed her head against Lillie's leg.

"Let's go fight some minions, girls!" Akari cheered.

"Yes!" Green cheered as the little girl on her shoulders giggled.

"Let's go save daddy!" She said clapping her hands.

"Yes." Lillie replied simply, Ralts shifted against her. Lillie flinched again, but less so this time.

"Ralts," Ralts said pulling at Lillie's skirt insistently. "Ralts Ralts."

"Yes?" Lillie asked, bending down to meet its gaze. Ralts latched her arms around Lillie's neck and slowly scrambled up onto her shoulders.

"Ralts," Ralts said happily holding onto Lillie's ponytail. Lillie did her best to not freak out as she balanced the toddler on her shoulders.

"Ralts slow," Frederica explained. "Likes to ride."

Lillie did her best to waddle away slowly as she followed the rest of her friends out of the meadow.

"Go faster, Ralts fine," Frederica said gently prodding Lillie. Lille waddled slightly faster, speeding up little by little until she got used to it and started walking normally.

…

"Knock knock, you're about to get shell shocked!" Akari sang, knocking on the door to the wind farm and trying the doorknob. "Still locked."

Frederica nodded as she slipped the key into the lock and turned it,the wrong way. "Open," She growled trying to twist the key.

"Try the other way." Lillie suggested. Frederica growled as she turned it again, opening it with a click.

"We're in." Akari said in a secret agent voice.

"Yes," Green said carefully opening preparing to open the door. "Let's try to stealthy way first."

"I can do stealthy." Akari said, and got into an extreme crouching position on both hands and feet. Lillie simply pressed herself against a nearby wall.

Frederica went fully panther as she stalked her way inside, only for the same guard as before to be waiting right at the reception desk.

"Oh you got in," He deadpanned. "Commander's over there. Do what you want, I can't really do anything about it." Everyone just sort of stared as they tried to decide what to do. The grunt went back to his game of solitaire.

"I say we go with it. Not all the minions will be this apathetic." Akari said.

"We're not minions, were grunts. There's a difference. It's also not apathy, just cutting my losses." The grunt said, not looking up from the cards.

"Right…" Green said standing up, seeing no need for stealth. Akari also got up from the floor and the group skirted the walls to avoid the rest of the grunts.

"Almost there," Green said sneaking around the grunts watching the stairs. Akari nodded and shuffled to peek around a corner. Looking at a nearby monitor was a thin red haired woman in a poodle skirted variant of the uniform they had been seeing. Akari looked back to the group, particularly at Green. She made a gesture and face like she was choking herself with rope as a sort of wordless question.

"What?" Green asked. Akari shook her head and covered her mouth, but it was too late.

The woman peeled around the corner. "Hey! What are you kids doing here? This is a secret Team Galactic property."

Akari backed up, causing the rest to too. "We're here to get a father back. And to defeat you if necessary. You look like you're in charge here, right?"

"Indeed I am. I'm one of Team Galactic's four commanders. My name is Mars." The lady said. "We've been trying to create a new world better than this one. But people show very little understanding in what we do."

"I mean, I didn't ask for your life story but ok." Akari said. "But why though? What's so wrong with this one?"

"This world is imperfect, and we aim to fix that. But enough about our grand schemes. You don't need to know that. You don't seem to understand either. It's a little saddening."

"-But that's not true!" Green insisted. "Nothing's perfect, the world's not perfect, but it's there for us, trying the best it can. That's what makes it beautiful!"

"Imperfections are flaws, plain and simple. But it seems that we've reached an impasse. How about this? One of you battles me to decide what happens next. If you win, we'll leave. But if I win, you leave." Mars said.

Frederica whistled as she shoved Lillie forward in front of them all. "No! Please don't make me battle her, I'm not ready!" Lillie shrieked.

"You ready," Frederica nodded.

"No I'm not!" Lillie shrieked. "I only have one Pokémon anyway!" Frederica pointed to Ralts. "Ralts isn't mine!" Frederica pointed at Vulpix's pokeball. "Yeah, Vulpix is mine, but that's still only one!"

"That's two, that's enough," Frederica insisted.

"Enough of your ceaseless chatter. You will be my opponent." Mars declared. The rest of the group took a few steps back to create a decent sized arena. "Go Zubat!"

Lillie shook like a leaf for a second, but remembering what her last battle was like, tried her best to put on a brave face. She reached for her single luxury ball.

"Ralts," Ralts insisted bouncing on her shoulders.

"But its a bad idea. You've got a huge type disadvantage against that thing." Lillie said. "It probably knows Bite or Leech Life."

"Ralts!"

"She wants you to fight," Frederica explained.

"Oh." Lillie said, and threw her ball into the air. "Go Vulpix!" The six tailed fox landed on its feet, ready to fight.

"Bite!" Mars commanded.

"Ember!" Lillie ordered. Vulpix blew a small kernel of fire in Zubat's face, but it had to get close to do it, letting Zubat hook a few teeth into its fur coat.

"Quick Attack!"

"Leech Life!"

Vulpix took a running start and body slammed Zubat, and the impact forced its needle off course and into a wall.

"Ember!"

"Leech Life again!"

Vulpix's fire incinerated Zubat's needle, but never reached the actual Pokémon.

"Quick Attack!"

"Bite!"

Vulpix charged the Zubat in a body slam, but Zubat's teeth dig into Vulpix's flesh.

"Ember!"

"Leech Life!"

At such close quarters, it all came down to which was quicker. And the answer was Vulpix. Vulpix fires a small fireball point blank into Zubat's torso, leaving it with smoking fur and out for the count.

"Zubat return!" Mars commanded, and it was sucked into its pokeball. "You May have defeated my Zubat, but there's one more you have to beat! Go Purugly!"

Out of its pokeball emerged an extremely fat, puffed up and angry looking grey and white cat. It's tail was wrapped around its waist to give it an hourglass figure.

"Fake Out!"

"Ember!"

Purugly waddled forward with surprising speed and open paw slapped Vulpix on both sides of its head, causing it to flinch and not fire its Ember.

"Scratch!"

"Dodge and use Confuse Ray!"

Vulpix jumped out of the way of Purugly's claws and coughed up a small strobing light from its mouth. It circled around Purugly, making it dizzy and confused.

"Feint Attack!"

"Will-o-wisp!"

Purugly tried to fade into the shadows, but due to its confusion, fell on its butt and hit its head. Vulpix charged up a blue fireball in its mouth and fired it at Purugly, inflicting it with the Burn status.

"Scratch!"

"Ember!"

Vulpix fired a small fireball at Purugly, adding to the fire. Purugly managed to see straight long enough for it to dig its claws into Vulpix, sending it flying back to Lillie. It had very low health, but it wasn't fainted yet.

"I'm so sorry!" Lillie said, and returned it to its luxury ball. "Ralts, you're up."

Ralts jumped off of Lillie's shoulders and hovered down to the field, looking as ready to fight as a toddler like Pokémon could.

"Scratch!"

"Disarming Voice!"

Ralts let out a huge shriek, making Purugly tumble back with the force.

"Feint Attack!"

"Magical Leaf!"

Purugly, finally snapped out of its confusion, faded into the shadows. It reached a paw out from the shadow behind Ralts and slapped it on top of its head. Ralts whipped around and shot it point blank with Magical Leaf. Purugly flew across the room and landed in front of Mars, fainted.

"I lost?! You uppity brat!" Mars roared, before regaining her composure. "Well I messed that one up. But it's ok. I enjoyed our battle. I guess it's time to say goodbye, for the time being at least."

With that, Mars started ordering the grunts to pack things up. Within minutes, they were cleared out.

Lillie leaned against the wall and slid down it, sighing as she did so. "_That was not fun." _She thought.

"Ralts," Ralts said smiling as she grabbed Lillie's hand.

"Yeah, at least we won." Lillie replied. Ralts started jumping up and down excitedly as she glowed brightly. "Oh no, what's happening now?!" Lillie shouted. "Wait, I know this! You're evolving."

Frederica gave her a toothy grin as Ralts's glowing body stretched and grew about twice as big as before, with two horns poking out and a small floofy skirt.

"Kirlia!" Kirlia yelled happily dancing around like a ballerina. "Kirlia! Krirlia!"

"Still adorable as distortion." Akari said.

Congratulations on the evolution!" Lillie said.

"Aww she's adorable!" Green squealed picking Kirlia up and hugging her.

Frederica smiled in happiness and grabbed her new pokemon, rubbing their heads together. "Good job out there," Frederica said softly.

"I'm so tall!" Kirlia said happily. "I can dance!" The she gasped. "I can do this!" She said flipping out of Frederica's arms and grabbing Lillie's hand, setting it on one of her horns.

Lillie squeaked before a flood of positive emotions crashed into her mind.

"Pokemon good, told you," Frederica said smirking. Lillie just hummed in response.

"Side quest complete! What now?" Akari asked.

"Well according to their records," Green said looking over the computers they left. "We need to go to Eterna City, they've been monitoring us since we left."

"Like by a bug or something?" Akari asked.

"Camera's," Green said. "There's a Team Galactic building there we need to clear out."

"Well let's go then!" Akari agreed.


End file.
